DON’T PANIC!

Spend time on any newsfeed or broadcast, flick through the headlines of the day, or reflect on some of the larger issues that confront our world—and it is not hard to feel overwhelmed with all the trouble around the globe. There are two reasons.

First, there are many grim, tragic, and frightening things that happen each day and many serious threats that confront us individually and collectively in our world. Second, the phenomenon that we call news collects all these things in one feed, stream, or channel and constantly bombards us with the next alarming, heartbreaking headline.

The next story breaks before we can get our heads and hearts around the previous tragedy, disaster, or outrage. We do not hear the resolution to many of the stories, and little time is given to understanding why or what matters most.

When we are confronted with such a torrent of wars and rumors of war, famines, earthquakes, and all kinds of falsity, it is easy to become overwhelmed, anxious, and afraid. Indeed, this is probably a healthy response to an unhealthy amount of exposure to death and disaster. Our world is broken in many ways, and our media feeds make it all too obvious and accessible every day. In response to the chaos surrounding us, Jesus said, “See to it that you are not alarmed”—or simply “Don’t panic!” (Matthew 24:6, NLT). But “see to it” carries a sense of intentionality. Be intentional about trusting God, but perhaps also be intentional about how much we choose to expose ourselves to the weight of tragedy and suffering portrayed in the news. We ought to be alert, aware, and compassionate in responding to the world around us and particularly to those most in need, but “don’t panic”—and don’t allow ourselves to be panicked or overwhelmed by the constant exposure to news.